Caleb’s gift of life: Family shares how their 3-year-old son gave others a new chance through organ donation

BETTENDORF, Iowa (KWQC) - February 14 isn’t just Valentine’s Day; it’s also National Donor Day, a day dedicated to spreading awareness about organ donations and recognizing those who have given the gift of life.

In 2014, a Bettendorf family faced the unimaginable tragedy of losing their youngest child, Caleb, just a day before his third birthday. Despite the darkness of grief, Jenelle Shamrell and her husband Brigham found a glimmer of light by choosing organ donation as a way to honor Caleb’s loving and giving nature.

“Organ donation was the start of us finding the light in our darkest time,” said Jenelle Shamrell, Caleb’s mom and founder of the Caleb’s Alive In Me Foundation.

Caleb’s donation not only saved and improved the lives of multiple recipients but was also a way for Caleb to live on through them.

“We chose to share him with others and give others the opportunity to bring home their children, to help them on their way to do these things that they wouldn’t have otherwise gotten to do, all the things he wanted to do. It’s very comforting to know that he was able to help people do those things,” said Brigham Shamrell, Caleb’s dad.

“We know that one of his heart valves went to a 14-year-old boy; we know his liver went to a two-year-old girl, a little girl the same age as him. Both of his kidneys went to a retired kindergarten teacher,” said Jenelle Shamrell.

Jenelle Shamrell said the Iowa Donor Network played a crucial role in facilitating this process.

“They were able to start some preliminary tests for him to be a donor, and then once he was officially declared brain dead that night, we were able to quickly move forward with allocating all of his organs and making sure that everything went right where it was supposed to.”

The Iowa Donor Network encourages everyone to consider registering as organ donors.

“We all want to be remembered after we’re gone, whether it’s for some scientific discovery or whatever it is. Donation allows someone to be remembered long after they’re gone for giving life to someone else, and what a beautiful legacy that is,” said Heather Butterfield, spokesperson for the Iowa Donor Network.

To become an organ or tissue donor, you can register through your local DMV when renewing your driver’s license, and if you are an Iowa resident, you can register through the Iowa Donor Network website.

Butterfield said one donor can save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance between 50–300 lives through tissue donation.

According to the Iowa Donor Network, there are currently over 100,000 people on the waiting list for an organ transplant nationwide, with 637 in Iowa.

Currently, 4,700 people in Illinois are on the waiting list for an organ or tissue transplant, according to the Illinois Organ Tissue donor registry. More than 300 Illinoisans die each year waiting for an organ transplant.